There is currently a global shortage of tocilizumab (Actemra). As a result tocilizumab products are in limited supply in Australia too. If you are currently taking tocilizumab (Actemra), these shortages may affect your treatment.  A Consumer Webinar was held and recorded on 8 September 2021 to share more about this issue and its impact on Australian patients who rely on Actemra for treatment of their arthritis. The webinar was presented by: Professor Catherine Hill, President, Australian Rheumatology Association Elspeth Kay, Assistant Secretary, Pharmacovigilance and Special Access Branc ..read more

There has been a lot of media coverage recently about the COVID-19 vaccines that will be released in Australia soon. So I thought it might be helpful to share some thoughts here about the implications of these vaccines for our patients with autoimmune disease, arthritis, etc.   All patients who are on medications for arthritis know that they need to talk to their doctor about various types of vaccines. In the past, these types have been broken down into vaccines that are made with a living virus (which should be avoided by anybody on immunosuppressive medication) versus those vaccine ..read more

Many treatments have been used to treat arthritis over the years. Some of these treatments are fairly mild and just relieve the pain. But more recently we have worked hard to turn off disease with quite powerful medications. A lot of natural therapies are really mild anti-inflammatories, so things like Fish Oil, Turmeric, Rose Hip and Green Mussel extract work like a very mild form of aspirin and will certainly relieve the pain, but don’t turn off the disease process. In Rheumatoid Arthritis and other auto-immune diseases, white cells become so activated, they can start to cause damage. And i ..read more